August
18
Denver Convention Lures Doc Filmmakers
Shooting started Monday in Denver on Mayor, George Hickenlooper's documentary feature and pilot. "It's a real-life Spin City focusing on the day-to-day life of a mayor running a major American city under the incredible pressure of having a star-studded political convention descend upon his domain," Hixkenlooper states. "In this case the Mayor is Denver's John Hickenlooper (yes, a close relative) who Time Magazine named in 2006 as one of the five most important and progressive mayors in the nation. We just came from an inside meeting with the Governor, Senator, Congressmen. A lot of interesting information about how Colorado, which is hosting the convention, may ironically turn out to be this year's big swing state, like Florida was in 2000 and Ohio in 2004."
Thus Hickenlooper (Hearts of Darkness, Factory Girl), who is returning to his doc roots, is getting unusual access to the mayor as he deals with the challenge of keeping Denver in order as it hosts the Democratic National Convention. How will John Hickenlooper hold it all together under the spotlight? Monday night the director is filming Barack Obama at the Colorado Governor's mansion, where he will first meet Mayor Hickenlooper.
R.J. Cutler (The War Room) produces with Donald Zuckerman (Mayor of the Sunset Strip).
Other doc filmmakers are descending on Denver.
Hickenlooper is also prepping Bagman, a feature about Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, the two infamous Washington lobbyist scallywags who brought down Majority Leader Tom DeLay in the biggest scandal to hit the Capital since Watergate. Hickenlooper is hoping for a January start date. Matt Dillon is attached as Abramoff. "It's about American democracy for sale," Hickenlooper says. "Plays like 'GoodFellas' in Washington. The script also explores an aspect of Abramoff that no one really knows about -- that he was connected to (not responsible for) a murder. And this is a man who had no problems getting into the Oval Office to see George W. Bush or Karl Rove! Incredible!"
Prolific filmmaker Alex Gibney, who won an Oscar for Taxi to the Dark Side, is also working on a doc about imprisoned lobbyist Abramoff.
Subscribe to this blog's feed
Denver on the 24th. Please come out to a free screening of the documentary SKID ROW. RSVP @
http://skidrow.bravenewtheaters.com/screening/show/10950-denver
Posted by: Michael Madison | August 21, 2008 at 12:26 AM
Check out Current TV's hilarious pre-convention shows from Denver and Minneapolis
Denver
http://current.com/items/89221795_unconventionally_yours
Minneapolis-St.Paul
http://current.com/items/89225401_unconventionally_yours
Posted by: edgar | August 24, 2008 at 05:53 PM